Many computers today have radios to support wireless communication. Wireless communication is used, for example, to connect to an access point of a network. By associating with the access point, a wireless computer can access devices on the network or on other networks reachable through that network, such as the Internet. As a result, the wireless computer can exchange data with many other devices, enabling many useful functions.
To enable computers to be configured for association with an access point, it is common for the access points to operate according to a standard. A common standard for devices that connect to access points is called Wi-Fi. This standard was promulgated by the Wi-Fi Alliance, and is widely used in portable computers. There are multiple versions of this standard, but any of them can be used to support connections through access points.
Wireless communications may also be used to form connections directly to other devices without using an access point. These connections are sometimes called “peer-to-peer” or P2P connections and may be used, for example, to allow a computer to connect to a mouse or keyboard wirelessly. Such peer-to-peer communication is typically performed between two client devices (e.g., computers, smart phones, printers, projectors, etc.) so that the devices can connect to form a network.
In the peer-to-peer group, a group owner is selected by a negotiation process (e.g., as described in Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer specification). Once the peer-to-peer group is formed, new peer-to-peer peers or devices are able to identify the peer-to-peer group or peer-to-peer devices through a peer-to-peer device discovery mechanism (e.g., according to the Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer specification).
In current peer-to-peer networks, if a group owner wishes to leave a group or to terminate the group session, there is no mechanism for maintaining the group and delegating the group ownership to another device in the group. Further, the Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer specification does not provide any mechanism for delegate the group ownership in a Wi-Fi peer-to-peer network.